Forged in War
Chapter 1: Ignition ﻿ Halen's log. January 9th,2039. 9:32 AM "I've been keeping this journal for quite a while now. Ever since the day Liv was born, to be exact, Ive been scribbling in here. I figured one of the happiest days of my life would make for a good jumping-off point. However, I've begun to refer to it as Halen's log ever since I was pulled back into this war. I left briefly to take care of my family under the terms that things would be handed while I was gone. apparently that wasn't-" The door to the apartment explodes off of its hinges and several angry-looking teenagers storm into the room, followed by a tall pale man. His eyes were cold and grey﻿. He had long blonde hair, and when he spoke, the ground seems to shake. "Take everything, and kill the mortal!! You, Victor, are coming with us....It's almost impressive the lengths you've gone to to avoid us, but we have you now..." Aria immediately sprang up from the couch, throwing the book she was eading at one of the children, then ran through the dorr into Liv's room. The man screamed, "STOP HER!!" and one of the boys, who had very dark features, nodded and ran through the door after her. Vic leapt from the chair he was sitting in and smashed it on one of the attacking demigods coming at him. The others quickly began to brandish weapons. Vic simply grinned, and attacked. He deflected and parried 2 swords, a spear and 3 axes, then went on the offensive, using a mixutre of his martial arts to neutralize each of them slightly more violently than the last, clutching the last one by the throat, tossing him in the air, and roundhouse kicking him out of a window. "Really, Rolland? Using children to do your dirty work....? What would Cat think of that?" Vic smirked. He almost didn't move fast enough to avoid the sword thrust at his face. The blade went past him and into the wall behind him. "You are to NEVER talk about my beloved like that or I will bloody destroy you!!" Rolland summoned up a pillar of rock to box him in on his other side. Suddenly, Vic kicked the desk behind him where he had been writing, then a Mag-Lite drops from the bookshelf behind him, He catches it, the shoots a fireball at Rolland's chest, immediately igniting his cloak. He staggers back, then casts the sloak off, revealing silver armor underneath. Vic flips the Mag-Lite in his hands and as he clicks it, a blade extends from it, forming a sword. Rollands summons up sever rock spikes to attack Vic. Vic smashes through them with both his sword and fists. Rolland retrieves his sword from the wall and slashes at Vic's chest, cutting his shirt off. Vic kicked him with several high kicks to the face, causing him to stagger back. Rolland leaped to his feet just as Vic ran at him ready for a downward slash. A shockwave shales through the building as theit swords clash, and they find themselves in a swordlock. While briefly deadlocked, Vic shoved forward with all his strength, and headbutted Rolland in the face. Rolland backflips and lands just as Vic is about to slash at his throat. He then summons up a stone pillar to block the attack. Vic prsses harder, trying to break throught the pillar, but it is obviously reinforced. Suddenly having an idea, Vic raises his free hand and releases a torrent of flames at a particular point in the pillar. Rolland Laughed at his efforts. "You'll never get through, Vic, just give up." Vic simply grinned and intensifed the flames, turning them white,and causing the upper part of the pillarbegin to turn to molten rock. Rolland is still laughing when suddenly Vic does another roundhouse kick, knocking the molten rock into Rolland's eyes. He cries out in pain, and Vic swep-kicks him and shooting a huge white fireball at him, forcing him through the wall into the street outside. Rolland tried to struggle to his feet, then collapses. Vic takes all of the attackers' weapons and melts them in the middle of the room. He then places the Mag-Lite in a backpack, with some clothes, prepares similare ones for Aria and Liv,and grabs Smokewraith. Just before going out the door, he grabs the jacket Nolan had made for him out of the shadows and puts it on, not concerned with a shirt..He proceeds down the street, turns on a neighbor's sprinklers, tossing a golden Drachma into the mist, saying "Iris, you know the drill. Aria, please." Soon his wife's face appears in the mist. "Vic?" "Hey, babe. You two get out okay?" She nods. "Yea, we should be fine. That little........brother was inexperienced, so he was handled appropiately." He relaxes a little and smiles. "Good deal. Where are you now?" "We're at Lex and Kier's for now. What's the plan from here?" He thinks for a moment. "Leave Liv eith them, and meet me at camp. We have some business there to attend to, apparently. That good?" "Should be. See you seen. Love you." "Love you too." The image fades, and he pulls the bronze orb from his backpack and gets into the car as it expands, headed towards camp... Chapter 2: Ghost of a Chance Quinn's Report, January 9th, 2039. 4:09 PM "Ever since I found Vic's log, I decided that writing would be good, too. I was never into scrapbooking or anything. Writing was my forté. Shorty before Olivia was born, there were whispers of the war getting kicked up a knotch and that would send us tumbling backwards in the fights ahead. I hoped that it wasn't true. But to my horror... it was all too real." Aria and her daughter, Olivia, stood outside the house of Kieran Laurentis and Alexa Melehan. Aria knocked on the door furiously. The ivory-coloured door swung open and a tall, handsome, brown haired, hezel-eyed boy stood in the doorway. "Cecil," Aria said, "are your mom or dad home? It's an emergency." Cecil nodded and stepped aside for the two of them. Olivia didn't meet Cecil's eyes. A few months prior, Cecil and his twin brother Gavril were kidnapped by the Broken Covenant. The two boys were tortured for days until Gavril devised a plan for escape. The plan had worked, but only for Cecil. Gavril was apprehended and killed before Cecil's eyes. Cecil was a quiet boy before and now he was almost mute. Cecil took Olivia's denim coat and slung it over a chair. As the coat hit the chair, Alexa Melehan, the boys' mother, rounded the corner and hugged Aria. She pulled away. "What happened to you guys?" Aria sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I was reading and suddenly, we were invaded. I was able to hide with Liv but... I don't know if Vic's alright..." A desperate look crossed her face. Olivia put her hand on her mother's shoulder. "Mom... dad'll be okay. He's gotten out of bigger fights before, right?" Aria turned to Olivia. She smiled and took her in her arms. "My girl, my sweet girl." She kissed her head and smiled with a tinge of relief. "How is it that you're stronger than me?" Olivia laughed. "I have no idea." "She's your kid." Cecil's voice broke through like a brass ring. Sometimes Cecil's voice was deeper than his father's. They hadn't heard him say more than one word in a week. He shrugged. "Uncle Vic is a tough guy. He'll be alright, Aunty A." Olivia let go of her and walked to the couch. Aria was right in a way: Olivia was stronger than her. Her innocence kept her from seeing all the hate and evil that swarmed her. She knew that Olivia had once loved Gavril and after his death, she'd been almost devastated. "Alexa..." Aria steered her into the kitchen. Alexa pushed her black hair behind her ears. Selfcontiously, Aria did the same. "Lex... I need you to keep Liv with you. Vic and I are needed at Camp." When Alexa heard the word 'Camp', she straightened. "Of course. Actually, Kieran is already there. He was called a few days ago." She leaned against the counter. "Why?" Aria crossed her arms. Kieran usually only got called if it was an emergency. How bad was it? And Kieran was brave to go; the last time he was there was to identify Gavril's body. ALexa just shrugged. "I don't know. But, I didn't want to question him because of..." She trailed off. "Just... be safe, Aria." She walked out of the kitchen in an icy silence. She heaved a sigh and poked her head around the corner into the livingroom. Olivia was lazing around on the couch with Cecil on the floor, playing the latest version of Call of Duty. Olivia looked over her shoulder and nodded. Aria grabbed the keys to Kieran's Ford F150. She blew a kiss to Olivia and marched through the door. Literally. Driving to Camp was never fun, but it was the fastest way. So far. ________________ After two hours of driving through traffic, runaway cow herds and vast farmland, she found the Camp. She parked the car as far away from the Hermes Cabin as possible. The cabins looked redone and spiffed up. There were more demigods than before. She wandered around and eventually found Vic in the Big House. He was arguing with a young teenage Latino boy with thick black hair and a red bandana on his arm. "So where is he?!" He bantered. The boy put up his hands. "Don't ask me, mijo!" "Vic?" She asked. He turned around. "Where's Alexander?" He signed and glared at the boy. "He's... missing." Category:Stories